Near Field Communication Technology, known by the acronym “NFC”, is a wireless, high frequency communication technology having a range of a few centimeters intended to exchange information between several peripherals. This technology results from a combination of a contactless chip card interface and a reader in a single device. An NFC peripheral can communicate with other NFC peripherals as well as with other devices meeting ISO 14443 standards such as e.g., contactless chip cards.
The NFC standards covering communication protocols and data exchange formats are based on existing radio frequency identification standards (RFID) such as ISO/IEC 14443, FeliCa and ISO/IEC 18092. They include the standards defined by the “NFC Forum” founded in 2004 by Nokia, Philips and Sony comprising today more than 180 members.
NFC technology is an extension of RFID technology, allowing bidirectional communications between two peripherals, while previous systems, such as contactless chip cards, allowed only unidirectional communication.
NFC technology is usable only over a short distance of about a few centimeters, which implies a voluntary process from the user by preventing a usage without his knowledge.
NFC devices may be passive or active. A passive device such as a tag, chip card or a single chip integrated in an object contains information accessible in a read only mode by other NFC compatible devices. The passive device is powered by the electromagnetic field emitted by the reader (active device) so that it does not need its own power supply. On the other hand, an active device generates the electromagnetic field for communicating with a passive device or for establishing a communication channel between two active devices.
The fact that a device like a smartphone has a power supply does not necessarily mean that it will work in active mode only. A smartphone, or any other portable device like a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a digital tablet, may process its NFC interface in a passive or active mode. In a passive mode, the smartphone emulates a chip card and stores, in a secure memory, the information usually stored in the chip card. Thus, when the smartphone detects the electromagnetic field, it will access the secure memory and answer in a passive NFC mode with the information read from this secure memory.
The following are examples of known applications that use NFC technology:                Payment using a contactless bank card or a mobile device (e.g., smartphone, portable computer, digital tablet, PDA, etc.) on a contactless payment terminal;        Parking payment on a terminal accepting contactless payment carried out with a portable phone;        Buying and contactlessly validating a ticket for transportation or a show with the smartphone or other mobile device;        Managing discount vouchers in a shop, couponing by traders, etc;        Accessing and starting a vehicle with a portable phone or other mobile device;        Reading product information (e.g., price, composition, usage, etc.) in a shop;        Controlling physical access to reserved places (e.g., meeting rooms, company, class rooms, etc.)        Exchanging profiles between two users of a social network or game by bringing phones close together (e.g., user peer-to-peer communications);        Reading electronic business cards with a mobile terminal or PDA;        Synchronizing Internet bookmarks and contacts between a PDA and a portable phone;        Retrieving a key or code to a WiFi access point by approaching an NFC mobile terminal to the emitting hotspot; and        Accessing different automation functionalities of a building (e.g., home automation)        
NFC systems are designed to enable communication between devices that are positioned close to each other. However, sometimes this may be cumbersome within e.g., a home or a home network in which users wish to access additional functions offered through an NFC link, even if the distance between the devices is greater than the usual NFC communication distance.